My Ex-Boyfriend From Kindergarten

Chapter 30: I'll Take Care Of You

This is yet to be edited.

“Congratulations,” a warm voice greeted me as I stood outside the cafeteria, waiting for Nairobi. Cairo had already left. He bid me and Nairobi goodbye shortly after the program ended. At first I thought he was just running off to do the props or something. But then I remembered what Fifer said to him before she left us in our seats, ‘See you later.’

“Right back at you,” I smiled at him after snapping out of my thoughts. “You did great. Your whole team did great.”

“I guess we did okay,” he said with that humble smile of his as he came closer and stood beside me. “Are you heading home?”

“Actually, Nai and I are going to stop by this bookstore… Where’s Cassandra?”

“Her nanny picked her up. My dad lets her nanny pick her up nowadays because he knows we have practice for the play,” he explained.

For a while we were quiet. But it was a comfortable kind of quiet. I was thinking about how, in different circumstances, he probably would have already asked to walk me home by now. I would have liked that.

“Dune! Dune!” Nairobi rushed out of the cafeteria, snacks in hand. “Oh, hi Sunny!” she said as she saw him.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I asked mom if I could invite you guys over to our house tomorrow for a pool party and she said yes!” she exclaimed. “You’ll be going, right?” she asked me and then Sunny.

“Sure,” I said. I was pretty sure my parents wouldn’t mind. Who I wasn’t sure about was Sunny. His dad might think it’s just an excuse for him to sneak out of the city to see his mom.

“And you, Super Genius?” Nairobi asked Sunny again.

“I’d love to,” he said, to my surprise. “But I don’t know where you live,” he smiled.

“I can draw you a map,” Nairobi offered. I couldn’t help but laugh. Sunny was better at suppressing his laughter. I guess we both remembered the time Nairobi sent her to my house with only a lousy map as a guide. “What’s wrong with you guys?” Nairobi asked, slightly irritated.

“You can come over to my house and we’ll go to her house together,” I told Sunny.

“Great, it’s settled,” he said.

I browsed through several books at Salazars’ Bookstore to keep myself company while Nairobi talked to Miguel. I felt kind of bad for the guy. He was manning the cash register. But I guess Nairobi was too blinded to see that she was sort of disturbing him. Then again, he didn’t seem to mind. Oddly, neither did the customers. I thought one of them would have decided not to buy a book anymore. But no, all of them were willing to wait. Well, maybe because it’s Friday, people aren’t in a rush.

Out of habit, I ended up staring at the big map on the wall. I imagined myself as an old woman, married, with kids, and grandkids. I imagined that my husband and I have just decided to travel around the world. My eyes wandered the map, thinking of where we would go first.